GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS by John Dwyer

GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS THURSDAY, November 15, the 319th day of 2018 with 46 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 6:34 and sunset is @ 4:22. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury & Saturn. The evening stars are Neptune, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1777 – The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, precursor to the U.S. Constitution.
1806 – Explorer Zebulon Pike spotted the mountaintop that became known as Pikes Peak.
1864 – Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their “March to the Sea” during the U.S. Civil War.
1867 – the first stock ticker was unveiled in New York City.
1889 – Brazil’s monarchy was overthrown.
1901 – Miller Reese patented an electrical hearing aid.
1902 – Anarchist Gennaro Rubin failed in his attempt to murder King Leopold II of Belgium.
1920 – The League of Nations met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.
1926 – The National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) debuted with a radio network of 24 stations. The first network radio broadcast was a four-hour “spectacular.”
1939 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.
1940 – The first 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under peacetime conscription.
1965 – The Soviet probe, Venera 3, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On March 1, 1966, it became the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet when it crashed on Venus.
1966 – The flight of Gemini 12 ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
1969 – In Washington, DC, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War.
1985 – Britain and Ireland signed an accord giving Dublin an official consultative role in governing Northern Ireland.
1986 – A government tribunal in Nicaragua convicted American Eugene Hasenfus of charges related to his role in delivering arms to Contra rebels. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and was pardoned a month later.
1986 – Ivan F. Boesky, reputed to be the highest-paid person on Wall Street, faced penalties of $100 million for insider stock trading. It was the highest penalty ever imposed by the SEC.
1988 – The Palestine National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, proclaimed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state at the close of a four-day conference in Algiers.
1992 – Richard Petty drove in the final race of his 35-year career.
1993 – A judge in Mineola, NY, sentenced Joey Buttafuoco to six months in jail for the statutory rape of Amy Fisher. Fisher was serving a prison sentence for shooting and wounding Buttafuoco’s wife, Mary Jo.
1995 – Texaco agreed to pay $176 million to settle a race-discrimination lawsuit.
1999 – Representatives from China and the United States signed a major trade agreement that involved China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
2000 – Three police officers from the Rampart division of the Los Angeles police department were convicted on several counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. One other officer was acquitted. The case was the first major case against the anti-gang unit.
2005 – In Amiens, France, Isabelle Dinoire became the first person to undergo a partial face transplant. She had been attacked by a dog earlier in the year.
2006 – Andy Warhol’s painting of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong sold for $17.4 million. At the same auction “Orange Marilyn” sold for $16.2 million and “Sixteen Jackies” sold for $15.6 million.